1 dead, many wounded after weekend of shootings across Seattle area

A series of shootings across the Seattle area left one man dead and many others wounded over the weekend.

The Seattle Police Department reports that the incidents started late Friday night and took place through Sunday night.

• Friday, 11:24 p.m.: Two people were found with gunshot wounds in an alley near the 4200 block of South Orcas Street. The victims told police the shooting happened around the corner from where they were found. Police collected shell casings from the scene.
• Saturday, 12:18 a.m.: A 14-year-old girl was shot in the leg near Occidental Avenue South and Edgar Martinez Drive South. SPD reports that the gunfire came from outside a nearby bar. Private security guards exchanged fire during the incident. Police collected more than 80 rifle and handgun rounds. Nearby vehicles were damaged. Following the shooting, a man showed up at Harborview — his head had been grazed by a bullet — and said it was from the SoDo shooting.
• Saturday, 12:33 a.m.: People called 911 to report a man had been shot near Seattle's Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill. Bystanders attempted first aid. Police and medics arrived, attempted life saving measures, and declared the man dead at the scene.
• Saturday, 3:17 a.m.: A man was shot twice in Pioneer Square (3rd Avenue South and South Main Street).

The Seattle Times reports that four more people where shot at Renton's Regis Park shortly before midnight on Friday.

Two more people were shot on Sunday, including a 16-year-old boy along Seattle's Seward Park Avenue South. Police found bullets from that shooting lodged in the side of an apartment building. No one was home at the time.

Later that same day, a 28-year-old man was shot in West Seattle after a group of men reportedly approached his car; one person fired out the car window. Police recovered shot gun shells at the scene. Both individuals shot on Sunday were injured in their shoulders and were taken to a hospital.

None of the shootings are known to be related at this point.

The weekend's shootings come almost a month after another notable weekend of shootings that happened across Western Washington. The rise in shootings around Seattle is part of a growing trend, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz addressed the rise in shootings, and violence, in SPD's Aug. 15 newsletter:

"The disturbing trend of increased gun violence in Seattle continues. Two weeks ago, there were 29 shootings in Seattle in a single week, the most we’ve seen in a single week all year. So far in 2022, there have been over 460 shots-fired incidents in our city, 27 of them resulting in fatalities. By this time last year, there had been 330 incidents with 19 fatal victims. Since 2020, we have seen a 100% increase in all shots fired."

Chief Diaz also noted two fatal shootings over Seafair weekend, and other recent violent, deadly incidents that did not involved firearms.

This week, Seattle City Council members are expected to further discuss a proposal that calls for offering hiring incentives to bring in more officers to the SPD. Police staffing levels in Seattle are at a 30-year low with roughly 954 officers. Between January and July 2022, the city lost 109 officers and only hired 35.